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World history
Course: World history > Unit 6
Lesson 8: Rise of Mussolini and FascismFascism and Mussolini
The first fascist regime was established by Benito Mussolini in Italy in 1925. The word fascism comes from "fasci ," an Italian term for "bundle of sticks" that was a symbol for strength in unity. Fascists believe in one-party, totalitarian control of a nation and its economy. Fascist regimes value nationalism and militarization and frequently build nationalist fervor around a concept of shared racial or ethnic superiority. Mussolini's Fascist regime of the 1920s inspired Adolf Hitler's regime in Germany. Created by Sal Khan.
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- If Hitler thought the Germans were superior and Mussolini thought the Italians were superior, that wouldn`t they declare war on each other due to each other thinking the opposite?(27 votes)
- They both had the same ultimate goal, though. If they aimed for world-domination, they need some support.(25 votes)
- Why doesn't he talk about the holocaust? I am really fascinated with this. I don't agree with anything they did, at all, but I just like to learn about the holocaust. I have read about survivors' stories. I have read over twenty books on the holocaust, and I was disappointed he isn't really covering it.(11 votes)
- If your up for the horrors then i would suggest sitting down with someone you trust and view the horrific stories, thee concentration camps and then devastation that Hitler caused.(2 votes)
- At, Sal says that 'this bundle of sticks was a symbol of unity'. 1:04
The bundle of sticks is called a Fasces and it was a bundle of sticks and an axe.
This was carried by an official or the assistant of an official, signifying that the bearer had the power to either execute or beat anyone they wanted.
The escaped gladiator Spartacus, in some of his many battles with Roman officials, actually captured about three fasces, which was a great blow to the morale of the Romans - that was how important it was to them.
The fascists took their name from the fasces because it was a symbol of power.(15 votes) - I have notice that when Sal is explaining what is fascism he is talking about communism and free market, but he doesn't go deep in the relationship between how fascism was born, the relationship with communism and the political situation in Italy. Maybe it is better to explain few things.
First, the political situation was completely different. At the beginning of the last century in the parliament you could have found: on the right party the nobles, who were supporting the king, and few politicians which were supporting the church (their values and their interests, this was the extreme right back in those days); on the left there were the liberals and few socialist (so there wasn't really this distinction and conflict between communist ideas and free markets). It is also fare to say that most of the politicians in Italy were changing parties depending on the issues faced.
Second, communism ideas begun to spread at the end of the WWI during the two years after the war to be precise. This spreading of ideas in an early nations without any welfare state and any laws that was able to protect a normal person who wasn't a lord or a priest, became rapidly popular in particular in the industries. The situation in the factories was really bad in Italy, since everybody who was working there was a kind of slave for the owner of the factory. Children, older people, women, there was nobody who was gaining benefits from their job. So between 1919-1921 all the workers in the Italian factories begun to strike against their bosses.
The elite became really scared about these revolutionary ideas which were changing the status quo. And this is the moment when the Fascism begun to grow.
In fact, at the beginning of the fascism, these are just few bunch of persons who were protecting the business of the landlord and the bosses in Italy. They were mainly agricultural groups which were going in to beat up the workers who were striking or the representatives of the early Communism Italian movements.
Mussolini wasn't there at the beginning of the fascism, but he became the Idol of the movement later. Fascists groups were supported by the landlord and the owners of the factories to fight communism, and for this reason fascists were always been considered like the bosses dogs by the communist.
Fascism, since part of a socialist movement, will lead anyway to the rise of a social welfare in the Italian legislation, the same social welfare which the communist movements were asking for the workers and the civilians trough their strikes.
After all of this, I have the impression that when it comes to talk about communism there is always in these videos a certain kind of really negative point of view. Is that because you are generally skeptic or because you have some bias?(8 votes)- You are incorrect on the spectrum. Both are forms of Collectivism, and your bias in favor of them shows when you imply them being evil are stereotypes.
Sticking with the traditional left/right scale and placing Communism on the left, both forms are far left. They all place the collective or common good above the individual. It matters not if it's nationalistic or racist etc, the fact is that they all place the State in power over the individual for the so-called Greater Good. The opposite side would be anarchy with actual Capitalism near the far right end of the scale. Capitalism being a voluntarily funded constitutional republic whose only legitimate role is protecting rights (Life and property, not made up ones).(4 votes)
- I don't fully understand his use of the word force (), is he referencing only to physical force (so the army and what not) or also the force of the mind over other people? 5:30(6 votes)
- Yes, physical force because Mussolini had political opposers with different views that didn't agree with his outlook, he would use his secret police to get rid all his opposers so nobody could speak against him. He forced his ideals onto other people, so eventually people believed Mussolini.(8 votes)
- Are fascism and Nazism defeated ideologically? Should we fear their resurgence?(4 votes)
- No ideology can be thoroughly defeated, because we cannot control people's individual beliefs and preferences. There have been and may always be fascist and Nazi sentiments held by individuals since the proliferation of those sentiments in the early 20th century. What we can try to control is the spread of harmful beliefs and their enactment - like preventing another Holocaust from happening again. This is precisely why it is so important that we study history - so we can recognize the warning signs and act accordingly, so we don't have a repeat of the past.(11 votes)
- What's the difference between socialism and communism? This question has always plagued me! Ahh!(2 votes)
- Socialism is actually more about wealth redistribution across society through socially equitable programs lead by the government. (i.e. health care, maternity leave etc.) Communism is about abolishing class, and advocates the elimination of private property. Additionally, socialism has more practical applications and has been seen in governments around the world such as England's National Health Services. Communism on the other hand still remains an ideology and has not been practiced in the pure Marxist form.(7 votes)
- I know that I may be missing something, but what do the terms "left wing" and "right wing" mean? From the context, I get that they represent different extremes in the group action, but what exactly? I'm not talking about the Fascists in general, Sal uses this term pretty much throughout the course since Hitler's rise.(5 votes)
- What does Capitalism and Communism actually mean ?(2 votes)
- Well, capitalism derives from the word "capital," which means any economic potential (e.g. services, products, and etc.) that could yield profit. Thus, it literally means an economic system based on the utility of capital. On the other hand, communism derives from the word "community," emphasizing the importance of community as the first priority. To help the community, communism suggests equal pay, no private ownership, and state-regulated economy.(6 votes)
- what did Mussolini do?(2 votes)
- Mussolini was an Italian fascist dictator. He led Italy through WWII.(4 votes)
Video transcript
When people use the terms
"fascism" or "fascist" today, they're usually
using it in a derogatory way to refer to a group, a regime,
or even an individual that is overly aggressive, and
controlling, and totalitarian. But its roots, actually,
lie with Benito Mussolini, who was in power in Italy
during the 1920s, and 1930s, and through World War II. And they proudly call themselves
the Fascists and their ideology as fascism. And the root of
fascist and fascism come from the Italian
word "fascio," which literally
refers to a bundle. It comes out of this idea
that a bundle of things will be stronger together
than individually. And this is actually
the symbol for fascism. And this symbol of this bundle,
this sheath of sticks, this actually predates Mussolini
by thousands of years. It goes back to Roman times. And even, based on some
of the things I've read, even predates Roman
times as a symbol of unity, a symbol
of official strength. And even before
Mussolini came around, the term was used by many,
many, many groups that viewed themselves as a
league of revolutionaries. A group of people somehow
fighting for change. And Mussolini was no different. When in the end of 1914
and then in early 1915, he establishes the Fasci
d'Azione Rivoluzionaria. And I'm, once again, so
sorry for my butchering of an Italian word. But this literally translates
to group action revolutionary, or you could say the
revolutionary action group, founded by
Mussolini in 1915. And it was really a splinter
of the Socialist Party. Well, there's an irony there
because Mussolini and fascism, in particular, is associated
with strongly anti-socialist ideology. But as Europe was entering
into World War I in 1914, some of the mainstream of
the Italian Socialist Party was against Italy
entering the war. They wanted Italy to
maintain their neutrality. But you had splinter groups,
more nationalist groups, that said, hey, look,
this is Italy's chance to claim its right. It should join the war on
the side of the Entente. And Mussolini was one
of these individuals. And because of his
strong pro-war stance, he was actually
kicked out of his-- he was head of a
socialist paper in 1914. And then he eventually, by 1915,
establishes the Fasci d'Azione Rivoluzionaria. And by the end of World
War I, as we get into 1919, it regroups under the name
Fasci Italiani di Combattimento. So this literally translates
as, you could view Fasci as a group, or league,
or revolutionary league of Italians of Combatants. Or the Combatant Italian
Revolutionary Group-- I guess is one way
to think about it-- or the Group of
Italian Combatants, is another way to
think about it. And their ideology--
and their ideology wasn't well established
right when they set up. It was just really
around this idea of being super
pro-nationalist-- but it began to develop over the course
of the '20s and the 1930s. The core idea, and I've
already said it multiple times, is an extreme nationalism. And when we talk about extreme
nationalism, or nationalism in general, it's talking
about the interests of one nation, of one
group, above all others. About putting the state
above all other things. Oftentimes, fascism is
viewed as a right-wing group. But in its purest form, it's
neither left- or right-wing. At the left end of
the spectrum, you could imagine
communist or socialism. I'll write communism,
which you could view as an extreme
form of socialism. Communism. And at the extreme
right, you could imagine just
complete free-market. Complete, unfettered,
free-market. Ultra small government. And fascists and
extreme nationalists, they didn't view themselves
as either end of the spectrum. They kind of viewed
themselves as a separate way where everything
was subordinate. The economy itself was
subordinate to the state. Now with that said, they
tended to align themselves more with folks on the right. So even though they
weren't completely free-market
capitalists, they were staunchly anti-communist
and anti-socialist, which caused them to form
alliances a little bit more with the right. But from their point
of view, it wasn't one of these extreme
right-wing ideologies that the government should be
subordinate to the economy, that the government should
be as small as possible. It was much more that
the economy was there to serve national interests. Some of the other ideologies
that the fascists began to hold is this idea that force was a
legitimate part of politics. So force in politics. And you would see this when
Benito Mussolini's fascists, through the use of
the Black Shirts, which was their
paramilitary group, which allowed them to eventually
take political control and enforce political control. And we later see it with
other groups like the Nazis. Who are also tended to be
associated with fascism. And their storm troopers
and their storm battalions, their paramilitary forces,
that are used to, essentially, take political control. The other aspect of
them-- and, as you could imagine, when we're
talking about either Mussolini or the Nazis-- is that
they weren't really fans of democracy. Not only did they
think that everything should be subordinate
to the state, but that the state should
have absolute control. So it's not about democracy. It's about having a
strong leader at the top. A strong one party at the top. And in the case of Mussolini
it was the fascists. In the case of Hitler it
ends up being the Nazis. So totalitarian. Completely totalitarian. And then, they
also-- and these all gel together-- this idea of
aggressive foreign policy. And this aggressive
foreign policy is really rooted in this
belief of cultural superiority. And, if you take the
case of the Nazis, this belief in extreme
racial superiority, cultural superiority. And I'm making a
slight distinction there because in
Mussolini's eyes, he was actually
quite disparaging. Even though Hitler
looked to Mussolini as something of a role model
when Mussolini took power in 1922, it inspired
Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch. Mussolini did not
think much of Hitler through much of the 1920s
and even early 1930s. He thought Hitler's
ideas of racial purity were really an illusion. That there was no
racially pure race. He didn't really appreciate
Hitler calling the Italians a mongrel race. But Mussolini himself did
think that the Italians were culturally superior. And that would be
their justification for an aggressive
foreign policy. For them taking over
other territory in Europe and in Africa. And as we'll see,
because they shared so much in common
ideologically, the Nazis were, you could kind of
view as a more extreme form. And the fascists themselves
were quite extreme. But the Nazis were
a more extreme form of the same ideology. They will, even though in
the '20s and early '30s Mussolini is more
eager to align himself with some of the other
powers in Europe, in particular Great
Britain and France. As we go into the
second half of 1930s, Mussolini and Hitler
find themselves to be kindred spirits. They both want to be aggressive
in their foreign policy. They both want to
secure other territory. They both have
this idea that they need space for their
superior populations, to their culturally superior,
and in the case of the Nazis, racially superior populations
to grow and thrive. And so as we enter
into the second half of the 1930s and
World War II, you have Mussolini and
the fascists become close allies of
Hitler and the Nazis.